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Linkedin Pulls API From CRM Vendor

posted by LaminatorX on Sunday March 09 2014, @07:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the weakest-link dept.

regift_of_the_gods writes:

"The makers of Nutshell CRM, a web-based service for managing sales leads and workflow (screenshots here), have notified their customers that they will no longer able to populate profiles with data from Linkedin accounts, after Linkedin informed Nutshell that it was violating the developer API's terms of use over a year and half after Nutshell first announced the feature. It's hard to argue that Nutshell's Linkedin integration feature does not violate the Linkedin Developer API Terms of Service (specifically section C: 'If your application falls into one or more of the following categories, you are required to be part of one of our Partner Programs and have a signed agreement with LinkedIn... applications used for hiring, marketing, or sales...').

However, Nutshell's CEO says Linkedin representatives also informed him they weren't accepting applications for their Partner Program from CRM vendors at this time, leaving Salesforce and Microsoft (Dynamics) as Linkedin's sole partners in that space. Also, the TOS page notes it was last revised in August 2013; it's not immediately clear whether this clause was in place when Nutshell first announced Linkedin integration in May 2012. The CEO of Zartis, which runs a web service for tracking applicants, blogged his layman's interpretation of Linkedin's Developer API TOS sometime in 2013; his post makes no mention of a prohibition for sales or marketing."

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by martyb on Sunday March 09 2014, @01:50PM

    by martyb (76) on Sunday March 09 2014, @01:50PM (#13555) Journal

    From the fine summary:

    Also, the TOS page notes it was last revised in August 2013; it's not immediately clear whether this clause was in place when Nutshell first announced Linkedin integration in May 2012.

    For the curious, below are links to the LinkedIn TOS page as it appeared on:

     

    I lack the time at the moment to peruse these; I leave it to other Soylents to do so.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by regift_of_the_gods on Sunday March 09 2014, @02:04PM

    by regift_of_the_gods (138) on Sunday March 09 2014, @02:04PM (#13559)

    Nice catch. I looked through the last one (May 30) and didn't see anything that would prohibit what Nutshell did.

    Of course, even that version of TOS also said that Linkedin retained the right to terminate any user for basically any reason (or no reason), so Nutshell is probably not in a position to sue. But it shows that Nutshell didn't tackle this API with an "easier to ask for forgiveness than permission" attitude. After they took up Linkedin's open offer and did the integration work for their app, Linkedin changed the rules.